1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general field of basic catalysis of organic reactions and is particularly concerned with catalysts for promotion of reactions involving organic isocyanates as in the production of polyisocyanurates and polyurethanes.
2. Prior Art
It is well known in the art that tertiary amines are good catalysts for production of polyurethanes. Also certain hydroxyalkyl tertiary amines have been advocated for polyurethane production. In particular, dimethyl ethanolamine has been employed for such purpose but it suffers from the drawbacks of relatively high volatility and its poor gel and curing properties. To overcome these deficiencies dimethyl ethanolamine is more generally employed as a cocatalyst with other known superior tertiary amine polyurethane catalysts such as diazabicyclo-octane.
Tertiary amines, however, are not generally effective as polyisocyanurate catalysts. The use of hydroxyethyl tertiary amines as polyisocyanurate catalysts have been mentioned but only in conjunction with alkylene oxides or as adducts of polyisocyanates, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,030. Hydroxyethyl tertiary amines as such, as exemplified by dimethyl ethanol amine, were not known to be effective as polyisocyanurate catalysts.
In recent patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,824,239 and 3,824,240) it is disclosed that certain hydroxyalkylamines are effective as trimerization catalysts for isocyanates, but the compounds disclosed in these patents are limited generally to those in which the hydroxyalkylamine function is associated with an aromatic triazine nuclear structure, which structures in themselves demonstrate good trimerization activity.